


all the cool things you can do with drumsticks

by Yellow



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Kinda, Other, band au, general hs nonsense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 02:37:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13137333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yellow/pseuds/Yellow
Summary: mako tries to get cass to join the marching band.





	all the cool things you can do with drumsticks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [timetoboldlygo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/timetoboldlygo/gifts).



> happy, happy bday claire!!!!

“I can’t play bassoon in the marching band,” Cass says. Mako taps his fingers on the bleachers. 

“I mean, you could be in pit,” Mako says. It’s still warm out. Cass tips their head back and looks at him.

“Aria’s doing the musical,” they say.

Mako snorts.

“She always does the musical,” he says. “She told me if she doesn’t get Elle she and Jacqui are going to egg Mr. Rose’s car.”

“Oh my god.”

Mako grins. “I said I would help.”

“Oh my  _ god.” _

“You know you want to,” Mako says. Cass leans back and smiles up at Mako, like they can’t help it. Mako waggles his eyebrows and Cass laughs, puts a hand over their eyes.

They’re so pretty, Mako thinks, breath caught.

“Someone has to be there to sneak you out of detention,” they say, and Mako laughs, lets his hand slide down the bleacher seat, just close enough to Cass’s back to feel their warmth.

 

So. 

“You’re so gay,” Aria says, and Mako groans, slides down the door they’re leaning against until he’s lying on the floor, head propped up. She’s sitting, posture perfect, cross-legged next to him. 

“I know,” he whines, and Aria sucks on her lollipop thoughtfully.

“Getting them into pit isn’t going to make them kiss you.”

“Welllll,” Mako says, “it’s not  _ not  _ going to make them kiss me.”

Aria eyes him.

“If you want to be ‘accidentally locked in a closet’-”

“Ughhhhhhhh,” Mako says, throwing a hand over his face. He thinks about it. “That’s Plan C.”

Aria takes the lollipop out with a smack. Her tongue is red.

“Good luck, my friend,” she says, gravely. Mako moans.

 

“I mean, if I did pit,” Cass says, sitting down at the lunch table, “what would I even play?”

“I dunno,” Mako says. “Mallets?”

“I can’t even march.”

“Pit doesn’t march,” Mako says. “They, like, stand there, mostly.”

“Oh,” Cass says. “I guess I could do that?”

“You could!” he chirps. “You could-we’d hang out and i’d teach you  _ all _ the cool things you can do with drumsticks, or mallets, or whatever-”

“I do not like drums,” Audy says, and takes a bite out of their sandwich. Cass presses their lips together to keep from laughing and looks at Mako, eyes dancing.

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

 

“So, like, how did the musical auditions go?” Mako leans against the brick of the school walls, casual.

Cass pales.

“I almost threw up and my voice cracked on the high note.”

Mako hisses through his teeth. 

“Shit, dude.” He looks at them, sideways. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Cass says, running a hand through their hair. “I was mostly trying out for Aria anyway.”

“You still might get something!” Mako chirps, fingers crossed behind his back.

“I dunno,” Cass says. “When did you say marching band started?”

“Tomorrow!” Mako yelps. He bounces on his toes. “You still probably have time!”

Cass hmms. “I’ll see.”

“Casssssss,” Mako says, and throws an arm around them, hangs off them. “Come ON.”

“Alright, alright,” they say, laughing. “Mako, get off.”

Mako slides off them, grinning.

 

He gets to the band room super early, and finds that Cass beat him there. So did the drum major-Paisley Moon, hottest senior around. 

“I said I wanted to do pit,” Cass says, from behind a giant bass drum.

Mako doubles over, laughing.

“You’ve always marched to the beat of your own drum,” he says, cackling.

“Mako,” they plead, swaying, and Mako stumbles over, giggling, helps them right themself. 

“You good, Cass?”

“Yeah,” they breathe, and somehow they’re suddenly very, very, close, the bass drum half between them.

Cass flushes.

“I think I have it now, Mako,” they say, low, and Mako snaps his gaze up from their lips and stumbles back a step.

“Cool,” he says, huffing out a breath. “Cool.”

He looks around. “So Paisley set you up with this?”

Cass grimaces. “I don’t think he likes me.”

“Aw, Cass,” he says. “It’s too hard not to like you.”

Cass gives him a look, like they’re confused, or surprised, and then people start to trickle in and Mako gives them a wink and goes to the back of the room, heart racing.

 

Mako finds them after rehearsal. They’ve got a wild look in their eyes.

“Mako,” they say. “Mako, I love the bass drum.”

“Okay?”

“I  _ love _ it,” Cass says. “You just get to, hit something? And it’s good?”

Mako puts his hand on their shoulder. 

“You okay, buddy?”

Cass exhales, long.

“Less stressed now.” They glance at him, lips quirking up at the sides. “Help me out?”

Mako helps them untangle themself from the drum and put it away. By the time they finish they’re the only two left.

“Uh,” Cass says. “Want a ride home?” 

“Sure,” Mako says, and takes shotgun in their parent’s van. They’re pretty quiet the whole drive, but when they pull up to Mako’s house they park and turn to look at him.

They sigh.

“Aria told me to join marching band to impress you, but now I actually really like it.”

“Oh,” Mako says. “Wait. Impress me?”

“I got nervous and almost didn’t do it but,” they say, “Mako. Mako. I love bass drum.”

“Okay,” Mako says. “Impress me?”

“Yeah, I mean-” They swear. “I mean-”

“Can I kiss you?” Mako blurts out, and Cass’s face turns soft, surprised.

“Really?” they breathe, and Mako leans in.

They bump noses at first and then-they tilt their heads and it’s good, and Mako is crawling into Cass’s lap, threading his fingers through their hair, and then he leans back against the steering wheel.

When the horn goes off he jumps so badly he hits his head.

“Shit,” he hisses, and slumps into Cass. Cass laughs, soft, and strokes the back of his neck. 

“Probably a bad place for this,” they say, and Mako imagines a million other places for this: the bleachers, the practice rooms, the weird alley behind the school-

“Yeah,” he breathes, and kisses them again, short. “See you tomorrow?”

 

When Cass smiles the corners of their eyes crinkle. Mako loves it even more up close.

“Yeah,” they say. “See you then.”

**Author's Note:**

> find me @capricioustube.


End file.
